Metzendorf tidbits

From Metzendorf.blogspot.com

What does Metzendorf mean?

Metzendorf is a surname that is from the German language. It can be split into two basic words – Metzen and Dorf. Metzen is the metonymic (a name derived from) occupational name for a cutler (someone who makes knives). It is derived from Middle Low German messet, metset ‘knife’, ‘dagger’ or Middle High German metz(e) ‘knife’. Dorf is a nickname or topographic name for someone who lived in a village. The meaning of Metzendorf is essentially “the village knife-maker.”

What is a Metzendorf?
The Metzendorf Trailer Manufacturing Company manufactured travel trailers under the same name from the late 1950s to early 1960s. The trailers themselves did not have model names, but were referred to by length. The trailers ran from 12 to 15 feet and were not much taller than 6 feet high so they could be stored in a garage. [haha, I researched this too but when I came home from Seneca Falls with out trailer it sure did not fit our 8 ft garage door...] The trailers sometimes had drop floors so an adult could stand up straight. The trailers were manufactured in West Farmington, Ohio, approximately 10 miles northwest of Warren, Ohio.

The owner of the company was named Martin Metzendorf. Martin Metzendorf and his wife had the traliers built with Amish laborers. Mrs. Metzendorf picked out the interior patterns and colors. They delivered most of the trailers themselves until a delivery accident deprived Mrs. Metzendorf the use of her arm. They sold the business in the early 60's and the trailer was produced for a few more years under the Metzendorf name.

Tomato Blight spotted in Northern PA...

Excerpt from the site Gardening Tips: Tomato Blight: Causes and Treatment

The first step is to remove all of the damaged leaves. Also, remove all leaves on the ground around your plants as the blight can remain in the soil. Wash your hands in between plants so as to keep from spreading blight to healthy plants or leaves. Dispose of infected leaves away from your garden in either a cull pile or thrown in the trash. You will need to plant your tomatoes in a different location for the next few years, as blight will continue to be present in the soil.

If you want to try to control late blight with fungicides, you need to begin spraying fungicide before you see symptoms – and you need to continue spraying regularly. Use a product that contains chlorothalonil. Even here, these products are only effective if used before the disease appears and should be reapplied every 7-10 days, or 5-7 days in wet weather. Chlorothalonil is a protectant fungicide, with no systemic movement in the plant, so thorough coverage is necessary. For organic farmers and gardeners, the options are very limited, since only copper fungicides can be used, and copper is not very effective on late blight. It is easily washed off by rainfall.

Continually check your plants and remove any leaves showing signs of the fungus. Though this process is tedious, it is the only way of minimizing the damage to your plants and encouraging as much tomato-production as possible.

Tin Can Rally pictures

Third Annual TCT Northeastern Regional Gathering

May 20th -23rd, 2010
in Sampson State Park, Finger Lake Region, New York

The Third Annual Gathering is being presented in the spring rather then the fall as the first two Gatherings. This Gathering has proven to be the place to be for vintage owners. For more information about this rally and about the Tin Can Tourists please visit the website www.TinCanTourists.com

Above the smallest camper we've ever seen... called a teardrop (for obvious reasons) and made by Serro Scotty (hence the scotty dog on the bed!). It has a kitchen in the back and a (sort of) two person bed inside. Very, very cute, and very, very much a one person camper!

The little Winnebago that won third place, and I'm sure the bright yellow studebaker out front had nothing to do with that :-) Rolf and I were debating between this one and the Shasta that ended up winning first, so I guess we have good taste! Our camper could be as shiny as this one... Dad? you planning to come visit this fall?!

As you can see from previous pics, our trailer is one awning and light string short... hopefully by our next camping trip (Letchworth? the Adirondacks? the Pennsylvanian Grand Canyon?) we'll have that fixed. Literally, as Rolf drove into a tree branch when reparking to get ready for the rally and dented the roof line and awning strip... oh well, it's probably not going to be the last dent & bruise :-)

For more, check out my Picasa web album Tin Can Rally 2010

old handles versus new handles...

After seeing pics of the new handles I really like (as did she) but did not choose, my sister wanted to see what the other handles look like. For reference, above is a pic of a horizontal chrome handle original to the trailer - all the other cabinet doors and small drawers had wooden knobs.

Here you see the vintage chrome drawer pull knobs (they came out of our 1960's kitchen) and the chrome cabinet handle I found at Significant Elements. It has the same "bent curve" up front as the original drawer handles, and I really like the asymmetry of the vertical use (bigger on top, smaller on bottom). I did not drill the second hole yet, though... and the retro knobs are still on my desk as well... (I did not get the return mailer yet, honest!)

For all the pics about the trailer restoration adventure you can visit my (new) Picasa web album Metzendorf Mania!

other metz enthusiasts!

By way of the Tin Can Rally I found out about two other metzendorf enthusiasts, one restoring a 1962 trailer and the other restoring a 1962 cab over.

The girl restoring the 1962 trailer has an extensive metzendorf blog with many for sale listings. If you have any interest in purchasing and / or renovating a metz this is the blog to keep your eye on: www.Metzendorf.blogspot.com


Greg from Seneca, NY was lucky enough to find a very rare 1962 cab over, which means a build out over the hitch part, useful for either storage and / or sleeping quarters. The Teardrops and Tiny Travel Trailer forum has a nice listing of what's going on with that trailer, plus Greg has assembled a great collection of before and after pictures at Windows Live. I'm sure envious of his absolutely great paint and buff job! I was just informed his trailer is completed and one of the places it will be used this year is at the Sterling Renaissance Fair Pirate's Day! How fitting :-)

the 3rd annual Tin Can Rally

Here's our little camper (14? feet long?) parked conveniently close to some trees. This way, you can't see the bad roofing tar job the previous owner did on the window sills and roof line! Unfortunately, the trees did not block the shade from the back roof during naptime so the top bunk bed was too hot, but Simon did not seem to have issues sleeping in the bottom bunk during daytime as long as we blocked it off visually. I'm thinking of installing a small curtain rail at the bottom of the bunk bed frame for next time's trip... I've got a feeling these "small improvements" will never stop - I was already contemplating a different curtain fabric as well :-)

A peek into the bed/kitchen and kitchen area where you can really see how the color jumps out! Even though it might not be strictly period correct, it did get quite a couple of positive remarks and had tons of pictures taken of the inside. People seemed surprised by the contrasting doors/cabinet colors, and we did seem to be the only camper painted like that!

I did dress up the kitchen a little bit, some vintage melmac tea cups on the counter, a nice color coordinated enamel water cooker on the range, but not nearly enough for what turned out to be the going dress standard! We'll have to do some yard sales this summer to be ready for next year's rally!

I thought this an interesting picture... father and son playing with a modern cell phone in a 1958 metzendorf camper! It sure looks like a "beam me up, Scotty" devise from Star Trek when seen from way back when...

The Rhubarb Compendium

A very nice site with tons of information on the what, how and when of rhubarb cooking, including a lot of rhubarb wine recipes. I plan to make rhubarb wine at some point, but after reading the recipes realized I need to read a little more about actual wine making first...

www.rhubarbinfo.com

a nice label I made (drawing compliments of google image) for the pints of rhubarb we'll have for sale at our veggie stand this year:

fixing the door...

When we would close the camper door, the handle would close but the top and bottom corners of the door would stay open... Fletcher had told me that very likely the inside of the door was compromised and needed a new frame to be sturdy again, but I had not expected the extend of decomposition on the inside! Basically, there was nothing left and the two pieces of wood that kept the handle in place were floating around the empty inside...

The door is like a sandwich, crimped around the edges, with a stiff corrugated cardboard lining. Most of the cardboard was composted into a bit of dirt in the bottom of the door, which explained the loss of rigidity. Rolf made a frame of ripped to size wood and used left over insulation panels to fill the gaps real nicely. The door sure is heavier now, but it does close nicely :-)

The challenges were not creating any pressure points in the aluminum while plying the crimped edges apart, and the taking apart and putting back together of the little window. The gasket was pretty stiff so getting the plexiglass window back in without too much bending was difficult until Rolf had the grand idea to use WD40 and the lube slid the window pane right in!

Metzendorf is toddler proofed!

Of course, the bunk bed is perfect for the kid! Except the kid is a two year old and the top bunk is 4 feet of the ground... So, after some heavy brain crunching we came up with a sliding door to keep the kiddo from rolling out, with a latch from keeping the kiddo from breaking out.




For giggles I thought to use a silhouette of my car with the camper for airholes, and Rolf thought to use the latch as the car hitch point!

The bed gate is made up of three panels, one fixed in place behind the hanging closet and two sliding panels with car / camper silhouettes. I'm thinking of blocking up the camper hole (orange backdrop?), the space is larger than the space between Simon's crib spacers. The volvo should be fine, and I'm sure Simon will LOVE peeking thru it! He definitely loved playing with the other part of the cut out, and recognized it was supposed to be mama's car! Smart kid.

Lemon balm Mint Tea

Need something refreshing that's easy on your wallet? Grow the perennials mint and lemon balm and you can make mint ice tea all summer long...

Pinch three sprigs of mint (peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, whatever) and three sprigs of lemon balm. Rinse if necessary and put into a glass jug. Cover with boiling water, leave at room temperature to cool down. When cool, top up with cold water and put in fridge until needed.

This is pretty potent stuff! We dilute it a couple of times without much loss of taste.

P.S. Have no mint or lemon balm? Shoot me an email to strike a barter...

metzendorf mania!

Choices, choices, choices... I found these really neat retro chrome enamel cabinet knobs, which of course are unbelievably expensive at $10 each. Of course, the day after I ordered them I found these real nice vintage chrome cabinet handles that have the identical design as the drawer pulls original to the camper... for $1 each!

For the sake of restoration (and our wallet) I'm planning to go with the vintage handles, but man, these enamel ones look really cool! Talk about color coordinated :-)

One thing, when I went back to Significant Elements today to look for chrome curtain rod holders I noticed all the other chrome cabinet handles were gone... including their box... I wonder if Fletcher bought them for the Rally! Or someone is selling them on eBay for $5 each or more, like the ones I found when googling chrome hardware...

Jack in the Pulpit

Our Jack-in-the-Pulpits are back! Last year we hosted a Cayuga Nature Photographers fieldtrip in our backyard and one of the pictures of our pulpits made it into the native wildflower exhibit this winter! I was sooo proud! We're also very glad to see that most of the pulpits are outside of the goat fence :-) The other pic is of a very nice mushtoom growing in the logs next to our veggie fence.

Home Sweet Home!

My top bar hive is all set up and ready to lure some bees! I purchased a pheromone lure called Swarm Catch and will be "fishing" for bees for the next three months...

I removed the front entry landing strip, put in two solid wood swing doors and one plastic main hive portal door. The hive portal is a special from Betterbee.com and I think with a little tinkering (on their part) it could be very useful for top bar hive keeping. If it would be half the size and have a fifth setting "closed", it would be perfect for the three hole hive.

We also removed it from the woods edge, even though neighbor wise that would be nicest option the hive did not get enough sun. Now it is in the "wild" area near a large cedar as windbreak and a little afternoon shade. We'll have to train Simon not to go near it, but that should not be hard as the weeds will be taller than him pretty soon.

and more metzendorf...

It was a bit of a challenge to decide what to do with the color scheme of the inside of the camper. The whole thing was painted flat grey which just looked and felt dirty in whatever light you looked at it... Originally it was a beautiful varnished rich wood tones, but that's not in my power of resurrection so we decided on white with one accent color. I did like the solid pastel painted campers I'd seen before, but I kinda only like turquoise and that did not really go with the mossy green accent in the formica tops... and to paint another thing completely yellow (even pale yellow...) would probably not have been received real happy by my hubbie :-)

Rolf picked out this rich orange called Arizona Sunset (guess where he would like to tow the camper too...) and I found a couple of fabrics to match. Even though orange is more of a seventies color, I do think it will work as the fabric patter of both the couch and the little curtains will have a distinct fifties design.

When painting the drawers I decided to use yellow (we have tons of it from a previous project) for the bottom storage drawers to break up the pattern of white/orange a bit.

The small piece is upholstery fabric for the back cushions, the bottom couch cushions are solid orange. The dotted piece is the curtain fabric, which will be lined with vintage 80's curtain liner recycled from old drapes left in our house when we bought it ten years ago!

multipurpose swimming pool...

Last year I used this swimming pool surround outside to house my baby ducks and geese out of the draft (worked perfectly). Earlier this spring I posted I re-used it in the sunroom to house a baby bottle goat in and when he moved to the outside pasture, the meat birds moved in :-)

Initially, my toddler used the ladder to get in and out to play with the goat - now that's off limits, of course, but I use it to hang a light from and the chicks love sitting on the rungs... very useful, indeed!

more Metzendorf

From left to right:

The bunk bed and kitchen area: side walls of the bunk beds need one more coat, and the bottom kitchen cabinet could use a bit too. Next is to clean the drawers, attach knobs and install both cabinet doors and drawers.

The kitchen and dinette area. What is white now stays white, though the couch covers and curtains will be colored as well so it won;t be as stark as it looks now. A lot of the chrome molding from the formica tops and window sills still need to be cleaned from old (and some new) paint marks & drips...

Thank goodness for my sewing queen Eileen as she offered to sew both the couch covers as the curtain drapes! Yay! Now all I need to do is the bunk curtain, and clean, clean, clean :-)

Houston, we've got ducks!

Finally, after at least 3 months of waiting (duck incubation is between 28 and 33 days...) we have little ducklings! First headcount is five little ones, four yellow and black and one black... no idea if these are khaki campbell (28 days) or muscovy (33 days) as I did not write down when she started setting and kinda lost track along the way... I need an animal notebook, especially now we have goats as well :-)

>>> the next morning we counted SEVEN ducklings running around the yard trying to keep up with mommy! All yellow & black, one with a brown head...>>>

chicken day at the farmers market!

Part of the event, with my A-frame coop in the foreground, some other person's coop examples in the back, and the market booth with Karma and her chicks and ducks (where all the people are :-)

I built the A-frame myself, based on pics from eBay and google, with the goal to use only recycled materials. I did have to buy three hinges, other than that the wood is either left overs from the build of our workshop (tongue and groove) and scrapwood collected at Lowe's.

I did have to downsize so it would fit in my smallish trailer, so it's only 3x6 feet (too small for regular chickens). Next year I'm making a full size version (a local eBay vendor donated the plans for advertising during the Day) which will be for sale!

One of our visitors, who brought her own pullet! Her mom carried an easter basket around, for when the girl was tired carrying the chick (I did not see it get used...). The event drew a lot of chicken enthusiasts, including many people from out of town! We did have a couple of last minute participant cancellations (learning curve for next time) but all in all it looked good and had a good vibe. Guess there will be a 2nd annual next year :-)

wonderful ricotta chicken with asparagus

I was experimenting with hard cheese making again when I found a quick ricotta recipe and decided to try it out... even though the whey looked good, I was only able to make about a cup of ricotta (lotta work for little result?!) but then at the spur of the moment decided to throw it in with the chicken and asparagus which resulted in the most delicious spur of the moment meal!

We especially liked it when we realized that apart from the rice, everything else, including the milk of the goats, came from our own backyard! Wow :-)

1 cup quick cooking brown rice
2 chicken breasts
bundle asparagus
1 cup or more ricotta

simmer brown rice with 1.5 cups water until done (you can make this in advance). Cube the chicken breasts and sear with a little pepper and salt in olive oil in a wok or skillet. Cut up asparagus in 1 inch pieces, keeping the tops separate. Add the freshly made ricotta with the asparagus pieces and simmer until the asparagus is done. Add the rice, mix well and if the rice is a left over let it heat up.

Very creamy, very simple, and if you're like us, very sustainable :-)

The first starts of our vegetable garden... partially tilled, most of the new permanent toddler proof pathway installed and the first seeds sown! Not all I need to do is till the rest and get the peas into the ground, they're way past due...

Is this a wildflower or a weed?!

I do think this is a wild flower, not an escapee, but I still tend to leave it unweeded: I really like the pattern of the leaves!

No idea what these beautiful little wildflowers are, but we really appreciate them blooming so early in spring! The one on the right is about a week later than the pic on the left, by the time the leaves unfold most of the flowers are wilted...

Third Annual TCT Northeastern Regional Gathering

Brief description of event: The Third Annual Gathering is being presented in the spring rather then the fall as the first two Gatherings. This Gathering has proven to be the place to be for vintage owners.

Date: May 20 th -23 rd , 2010

Location: Sampson State Park, Finger Lake Region, New York

Number of units allowed at event: 60 sites have been reserved – they sold out in 2009

Registration procedure: on line at www.tincantourists.com or by contacting the Fletcher’s fletch@vintagekingpins.com or Denise at Denise@vintagekingpins.com or call 607-387-5838

Contact person(s) – Bill Fletcher at fletch@vintagekingpins.com or Denise Fletcher at Denise@vintagekingpins.com or call 607-387-5838

Running water at the Goat Yard

A $15 dollar outdoor faucet for the goat yard... works a lot better than just a garden hose!

You'll need a faucet with a screw plate (ca. $4), a piece of threaded pipe (ca. $1,50), an L shaped coupling (ca. $3) and a swivel gardenhose connector (ca. $3).

Drill a hole 7/8ths (or 1 inch, depending on what drills you have lying around) from the side of the faucet at a 90 degree angle. Use plumbers tape to waterproof the pipe connections.

Obviously only works when it does not freeze! Disconnect hose and drain water before first severe frost to protect faucet parts.

what an old bike chain can be useful for...

I'd never have imagined when I packed this old bike chain for our intercontinental move I would be using it to keep our goat fence closed!

my muscovy nest!

Here's a sneak peek at the nest my black & white Muscovy duck made... She's due sometime this week, after 33 days on the nest! I found with both the ducks and the geese that they'll cover the eggs with down when mommy's off for a stroll... so I can't count the eggs. We're very curious to see what she'll hatch, and how many :-)

The grey and white Muscovy started brooding as well. And of course, the day before the Backyard Poultry Day at the Ithaca Farmers Market where I wanted to bring her and Moe for show and tell! I knew when I picked her up and she started whistling... but she only had two eggs, so I brought her anyway, hoping she'd stay in the mood. And after the big day I filled the nest with the left over duck hatching eggs, put her out in the yard, and next time I looked she was on the nest, all snug and cozy! I do have a feeling her nest will be less successful since it's most likely a mix of khaki campbell and Muscovy eggs, and the one needs 28 days and the other 33 days to fully develop...

a DIY Goat Hay Feeder

A well working hay feeder, made from scrap wood in a weekend! I followed the plans of the "I did it all by myself Goat Feeder" website - except I made it slightly bigger to accommodate the size wood I had and to make it to a full hay bale size. I found that the width space between the slats got screwed up that way - they're too small for (growing) goats with horns, and I also found I never feed a full bale at one time anyway! If it rains while it's out there it gets damp and the goats don't like that and won't eat it anymore...

I found somewhere else the standard width between slats for goats is 7 inches. If you use that any of the other diameters are whatever you prefer! I did add a lid, which I really like. The piece of angled wood at the back helps the lid to stay open without opening all the way so I can open, load and close with one hand.

Because of the lid, kids like to sleep on top of the hay in the bin :-) Reminds me of that fairy tale of the princess on the pea!

Address of the website is
www.goatworld.com/articles/feeders/feeder.shtml

The new goats arrived!

Please meet our new mommy & kid goats! From left to right: Thirteen (eartag number), Mountain Goat (likes to snuggle), Mountain Goat's girl kid (small black horns), behind Mountain Goat's boy kid (large yellow horns) and Thirteen's buff colored little girl.

Mountain Goat is the first to come meet anyone visiting the goat yard. She's also first into the "milking parlor" (tent) and when I bottle feed Jamie she'll come up to my other side, lean into me to get some nice head and neck scratchings... Her teats are on the small side and I have a bit of trouble milking her, on the other side, she's raising two kids so there's probably not much spare milk anyway :-)

Thirteen (Dertien) is a little shy. It took her a couple days to get into the new routine. She's always second for milking - though now she knows the routine she'll come right up to the little tent door, get in and hop onto the milking stand! Mountain Goat wiggles around to get as close to the coming feed as possible, Thirteen stands patiently until I dump it into the feeding pan. She's got a nice big udder with two bit teats, easy milking and a lot of milk (only has one kid though).

The three kids are very happy with the tractor tires, and started playing with Jamie and the Boer brothers as well. They'll tear up and down the ramps, ploink from one tire to another and generally act like little kids :-) The boy I storta call Whitey - he'll most likely be for meat - the two other girls have no names as of yet. I think to keep the buff one - I like her looks and if her udders are like her mom's she'll be easy & good milking...

The milking tent, you can vaguely see the milk stand in the middle and two bins beside if for food. The tent is open (the feed bins have good lids!) so the momma's and kids have shelter from the weather - the pick up truck cabin is too small for all of them, that's the bachelors' pad! Will need to screw a piece of wood in the entrance to make is smaller, though, the mommies squeeze in and steel the boys oats...

Metzendorf update

We got the camper back a couple weeks back and I've removed all things metal (coat hooks, shower curtain and window curtain rods, god knows whats) and sanded all the wood surfaces in preparation for a nice new coat of paint. Initially I hoped to strip and varnish the cabinetry back to it's original paint (just like our kitchen - our house is from 1960) but the plywoods used are not that high grade, and different types - plus, it's just to darn hard for a lonely gal!

The left side of the camper, with the beds, kitchen and part of the table area. As you can see, I went ahead and stripped the kitchen cabinet to see what grade of plywood it was. Even though the bed frame is made of nice fine grain plywood the kitchen cabinet is made of cheap looking, course plywood - similar to several of the cabinet drawers... So instead I decided not to restore the original finish on the cabinetry but to sand and paint everything instead. Which takes a lot less time anyway!

Here's the right side of the camper, without the kitchen table and couch pillows. Eileen has offered to sew couch covers (and maybe even some throw pillows) and we're waiting for the ordered specialty fabrics to arrive. Clearly visible is the new piece of plywood which covers the replaced water damaged wall piece. I think I would have liked more of the wall to have been replaced, but it would have cost much more money (difficult angles) and it will mostly be covered by the couch pillows anyway... I'll just make sure to paint nice and thick around that area.

Here's the right side of the camper, with the new aluminum strip covering the hole in the wall / roof line. Fletcher did a good job! Now we only need to clean up the old roofing tar mess so the new shiny strip does not stand out so clearly :-)

Three more weeks until the Tin Can Rally at Samson State Park! And three more coats of paint to go... plus curtains, door knobs, cleaned hinges, cleaned floor tiles, new upholstery... plenty of time left!